Book-It is embarking on a redux chapter and is living the proverbial ‘phoenix rises from the ashes’ dream! Book-It has managed to preserve its 501c3 not-for-profit status, and gather a board of nine hearty souls, ages 33 to 70, all of which for decades have had meaningful roles in Book-It’s story, as Book-It has had impacts on all of their lives.

We’re now in the process of rebooting and updating our website and are in the throes of planning a fall Book-It production in Seattle. We are also reaching out to constituents who over 30 + years have made meaningful efforts to keep our mission alive of transforming great literature into great theatre and inspiring our audiences to read.

This past fall Book-It was approached by Jeff Hermann, Managing Director of The Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Damaso Rodriquez, Artistic Director. Jeff had made the trek to Vashon Island to see Book-It’s world premiere adaptation of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, produced by Charlotte Tiencken at Vashon Repertory Theatre. After Jeff’s stellar reports of the show to Damaso, they were inspired by the work, the emotional impact of the audience’s reaction to the Book-It Style, and were both carrying a respect for our long-held contributions to the Seattle cultural and performing arts communities. They expressed a persuasive intention to help us restore Book-It’s presence in Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We had discussions about how we could collaborate, looked at budgets and calendars for an intended residency at the Rep, all of which presented beguiling obstacles. Ultimately we settled on the prospect of bringing Book-It’s production of Edgar Sawtelle to Seattle, producing it independently from the Rep, but benefitting from their guidance, advice, and incentivizing us as we forged a new chapter for the company.

Jeff’s lead-off introduction to our meeting was; “Seattle misses Book-It. Everywhere I go, I hear it: Seattle misses Book-It”

So, here we are, sallying forth to bring our production of Sawtelle to Seattle. And as the Book-It board moves carefully forward with a new paradigm to produce live theatre in today’s hardships of post pandemic woes, we are resolute in our motto —

“BOOK-IT IS BACK, ONE SHOW AT A TIME”

Our long term vision is not to get bogged down in overhead expenses and administrative responsibilities. We want to prioritize funding the art and the artists that create it by keeping our productions evocative and simple. This will allow us to do what we do best — which is using the narrative voice of the novel as our landscapes. We imagine mounting one production a year, with special ‘events’ peppered between shows, including collaborations with other organizations. Our determination is to recall to life a company that grew up in and has been beloved by Seattle and our glorious Puget Sound Region.